Generation X: Xander Style
by calikocat
Summary: Xander is back from Africa and put in charge of a new Slayer school. After the fall of Sunnydale there is much work to be done, Slayers must be trained alongside a new generation of Watchers. Bayville will never be the same. Slash Discontinued.
1. Prologue

Generation X: Xander Style

Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Joss, X Men Evo belongs to Marvel and other people. No money is being made from this.

word count: 871

Warnings: Somewhat explicit slash in the form of Spike and Xander. In the same universe as 'Another Victim' but you don't have to read it first.

Prologue

XXX

He couldn't see well, the light was too dim in the basement. Basement? Hadn't he moved out of there? He remembered moving out, why was he in the basement again? His thoughts suddenly few apart as something wet and wonderful engulfed him and he sighed in pleasure. Whoever was working down there knew what they were doing, sucking him down with expertise that spoke of years of experience. Strong hands held his hips down as he bucked up, trying to thrust into that wonderful mouth, he gave a whimper in protest.

Then the mouth was gone and he struggled to sit up, to see where it had gone. Those strong hands pushed him back down and he finally looked up to see intense blue eyes gazing down at him. He was in Buffy's basement then, with Spike...where else would he be? He smiled and opened his arms to his lover just as the scene changed and left him reeling.

His vision was fuzzy around the edges but it didn't matter because Spike was on top of him, inside of him, moving with him. Spike was looking down at him again as he thrust into him, gazing down at him in wonder as they moved together.

"Xander." Spike's bedroom voice was soft, cultured, and made him shiver in anticipation. "Come for me love."

His vision swam again as he moved with Spike, his hips rising off the bed, moving into Spike's thrusts, taking him as deep as he could. The pleasure mounted, engulfed him, devoured him as he came and felt Spike give in only seconds behind him. The cool wash of fluids filling him like nothing ever had before. Spike filled an emptiness he hadn't even known was there.

Gentle hands held his face, soft lips graced against his own and he did that thing with his tongue that Spike loved, coveted.

Then the bed was gone, he was standing, the light was still dim and he was yelling. Telling the the girls to run for it, to get away. All that mattered was keeping them safe. He felt a jerk and suddenly strong hands held his face, but they weren't the gentle grip he was familiar with. A sadistic face leered down at him.

"Well, you're the one who sees ain't ya." The hands shifted and there was a horrible pressure on his left eye. Then there was nothing but pain and screams, the screams sounded like his own. There was shouting, Spike's voice, and a jolt shook him, knocked the cruel eye gouging hands away. The damage was done and he knows deep down his eye is gone, but it doesn't matter, his mind is fuzzy with pain. It's all he can register and his mind is shutting down fast. Pain and Spike is all he can sense, Spike's gentle hands support him, carry him as the world fades to black.

Numbness...and a really annoying beeping noise. A presence at his side, a soft voice whispering poetry in between soft pleas.

"Love you Xan, please wake up." The world is different but he can see, bright blue eyes blink back tears of relief. "It was touch and go for a while there love. Thought I was gonna lose you."

"Spike?"

"I'm here."

A press of lips as Spike leans down to kiss him, he tries to kiss back but he still feels fuzzy, groggy, the result of really good meds.

Then those lips he loves are gone and the annoying beeping sound gets louder, more insistent until it's a constant shriek.

"Xander! Wake up already! You're alarm is gonna wake the neighbors!"

The fuzzy feeling faded and he reached for the alarm, smacking at it, beating it into submission. Dawn's comment finally registered. "We don't have neighbors."

"No one close by, but your hell clock could wake the entire town. Why do you even have an alarm clock when it obviously doesn't wake you up?"

He groaned and reached for his eye patch, slipping it on. It way too early to debate with Dawn. "It's an adult thing."

"Right."

He smiled at her, well he hoped it was a smile. "It's more for you than me. Alarm goes off, wakes you up, you yell at me, and then I wake up. See it all balances out."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Whatever. Hey, why'd you set your alarm anyway?"

His grin turned to a smirk and she gave him a wary look. "Because you have an appointment. Gotta get you enrolled in your new school."

"Oh come on! I can totally study here at home! You can help!"

"Uh huh. You really think Buffy and Willow would let me be your only link to education?"

She stuck out her lower lip in a patented Buffy pout. "No."

He tried to make his smile reassuring. "It shouldn't be that bad. Giles assured me there's no hellmouth here. So weird stuff happening at the school should be at an all time low."

With a sigh she gave in. "When's the appointment?"

"Eleven."

"Yay. Bayville High here I come."

XXX


	2. Chapter 1

Generation X: Xander Style

Chapter One

word count: 4061

A/N: I'm having trouble picking out a place in the time-line for this fic. Scott, Jean and Lance are starting their senior year, Dawn and Rogue are juniors, Kurt, Kitty, Todd, Freddy and Pietro are sophomores. Evan is with the Morlocks, I have no idea if Boom Boom will show up. Younger X-men are either freshmen, or eighth-graders. Expect this to be way off from the original season three. Also, the Institute didn't get blown to smithereens. I don't know how but Scott found a way to stop the self destruct sequence. If you see any glaringly obvious plot holes let me know...and then proceed to ignore them.

Also, my beta was taking too long getting back to me on this chapter...and I kept changing stuff. So if you see any mistakes...all I can say is oops.

XXX

Xander turned out of the school parking lot, more than happy to put it in his rear-view mirror. He was extremely glad that Dawn was going to be there on a daily basis and not him. Repressing a shudder he glanced at his charge. "So, what do you think?"

Dawn gave him a face that could have been a smile...in an alternate reality. "Principle Kelly seemed nice enough..."

He sighed. "You got a creepy vibe off of him too?"

"It wasn't just me then? I thought I was imagining it."

"Sadly, no."

"So that means I can home school right?"

Xander chuckled. "Nice try Dawnie."

"But what if he's evil?"

"Oh he probably is, but according to Willow and Giles the demon population here is pretty low. So chances are, if he's evil he's probably just an evil human."

"So I'm still going then?"

"Yup. You and the minis when they get here are all gonna be enrolled in the local system." He slowed for a red-light. "Look at the bright side, fall term doesn't start for a week."

"Hey you're right. Hmm, maybe I can catch some sun at the beach."

He grimaced, she sounded so happy about that and he hated to burst her bubble. "Guess again kiddo."

Dawn groaned and slunk further down into her seat. "You're gonna put me to work aren't you. You know power tools and I don't mix...I'm not as bad as Buffy but it's still an unmixy thing."

Xander shuddered, remembering to press on the gas when the light turned green. "I agree that you shouldn't be allowed to even touch power tools, but I still need help fixing up the house. You're good with a paintbrush."

"You know I apologized to Kennedy about that right? I had no idea the nail gun was that sensitive...or her for that matter." She grinned at him.

Xander rolled his eye and turned onto the street that would take them to a local home improvement store. "Just because she's a Slayer doesn't mean that being shot with a nail gun is a walk in the park."

Dawn managed to tone down her grin. "So what do we need. You have a list right?"

"I like to live on the edge."

"Of insanity maybe. Seriously, what are we after besides paint?"

Xander slowed the car as the store came into view. "The basement needs a lot of work done if we're going to turn part of it into a gym. Some of the doors to the bedrooms need to be replaced, and the front walk is cracked all to hell."

Dawn looked around the car. "We're gonna need a truck."

Xander snorted and pulled into the parking lot. "I figured I'd pick out what we needed and have them deliver it."

"I thought money was tight and that we were lucky to get the mansion."

He picked an empty space near the entrance and shut the car off before looking at Dawn. "Anya had one hell of an insurance policy, and I'm the only benefactor she listed." He watched as Dawn's eyes widened to almost comical proportions.

"Does Giles know? Scratch that, does Buffy know?"

"G-man knows...and I'm the one who paid for the house. So any renovations for it are coming out of my pocket. And no, Buffy doesn't know."

Dawn nodded in understanding. "One flash of puppy eyes and you'd be filling her closet with shoes to replace all the ones she lost in Sunnydale."

"I like to think I'm made of sterner stuff than that...so probably only half her closet would be filled with shoes. But there would be chocolate ice cream to properly mourn her lost wardrobe."

Dawn giggled and they shared a grin as they got out of the car and headed inside. The second they walked in they were nearly accosted by an overly helpful employee, wearing the ugliest green vest she'd ever seen. Ugh, the uniforms here sucked and she pitied the guy.

"Hi there, can I help you?" The guy's smile and bubbly attitude faltered for a moment when he saw Xander's eye patch. "Um...we have a sale going on right now on kitchen counters."

Xander waved him off. "Our kitchen is fine, we're just gonna look around, get our bearings."

"Oh...just come to the front if you need anything then."

"Will do, come on Dawn." He led her further into the store, stopping in front of a very shiny leaf blower.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Still not used to the staring. No one stared at the patch when I was in Africa."

"Yeah well, Africa is a crazy kind of place."

"Don't I know it." He gave her a smile. "Let's go find us some paint."

She followed him as he wandered about the store until they eventually found the paint aisle. It was empty except for a scruffy looking boy about her age, maybe a little younger, who looked lost as he stared at the hundreds of buckets of paint on the shelves.

"So what exactly do we need the paint for?" When Xander didn't answer her she looked over at him to find him staring at the kid. "What's up?" She kept her voice low.

He blinked and glanced at her. "Nothing...I think."

She looked over at the boy again. He was pretty unremarkable, standing there with a slouch, his shaggy hair brushing the collar of his shirts. The color was hard to discern, it could have been dirty blond, brown...or just dirty. His pants were ragged and had holes in the knees and his shoes looked like they could fall to pieces at any moment.

"Xander?" She murmured. "Is he..."

"Human...I think."

"He could be a local neutral."

He nodded. "Probably."

Dawn nudged him. "So, paint?"

"Paint? Oh! Right, paint. The stuff we're here for."

Dawn grinned, glad she'd distracted him with their mission of the moment. However she glanced at the boy again. He looked normal enough, but appearances didn't mean squat. Xander knew that first hand...especially after what happened in Africa. If Xander thought something was off about the guy, chances are he wasn't completely normal.

"You never answered my question. What do we need the paint for?"

Xander snorted. "Have you looked at our house? The ceilings have old water stains, the walls are flaky and that ugly yellow paint in the bathrooms has got to go."

"I'm starting to think you bought a fixer upper just so you could fix it up."

He shrugged. "What can I say, I miss working with my hands." He was about to say more when a guy in the standard ugly green vest that was the store uniform stomped passed them and toward the scruffy kid further down the aisle.

He was blond with majorly broad shoulders that just screamed 'jock'. The guy grabbed the scruffy teen and shook him. "What are you doin' here ya freak? We don't service your kind."

The teen's eyes were wide and nervous, and for the first time she saw they were almost a gold color. Kinda pretty actually.

"H-hey Duncan. Just uh...just lookin' at the paint yo."

Duncan sneered at him. "Yeah right Tolensky. You and I both know you don't have the money to pay for it. So get out of here before I pound you."

Dawn frowned at that and glanced at Xander, who gave a nod. That was one of the things she loved about her pseudo brother, sometimes he just knew what you wanted to say, or what you were thinking. She glanced back at the jock. "So...Distraction plan C?"

"Should work. Let's move." He grinned and watched her bounce over to the bully.

She put on her brightest and ditziest smile before tapping the jock's shoulder. He turned with a scowl that disappeared the instant he laid eyes on her.

"Hi there, do you think you could help me for a moment?"

Duncan let go of the Tolensky kid and grinned at her. "Sure, anything for a pretty girl."

She giggled and batted her lashes at him before pointing at the first bucket of paint she saw. "My bedroom totally needs a new look. Do you think this kinda paint would work? Or do I need some kinda primer first...and what is primer?"

Duncan turned to look at the paint and started on some long explanation that she could care less about. So she glanced at the scruffy kid and winked just as Xander walked passed her and motioned for the kid to follow him. Poor guy looked confused at their intervention but he followed Xander out of the aisle. She grinned and went back to feigning interest in the jock guy's opinion on primer. Now all she had to do was ditch him.

xxx

Xander led the teen to the next aisle, coming to a stop once they were out of sight. "You okay kid?"

Pale gold eyes narrowed at him in suspicion. "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. What'dya want yo?"

"Want? Why would I want something?"

"People don't just help the Toad without wantn' somethin'."

"Toad?"

"It's a nickname yo."

"Okay then." He stared at the kid for a moment, it was like looking backwards. The slouched shoulders, the defensive posture. Poor kid had been kicked around too many times. "Look, you don't know me and I don't know you. But lets just say I don't like jocks or any other kind of of bully."

The kid sneered at him. "Whatever."

Dawn swerved around the corner and nearly ran them down. "We should leave now." She said as she started to heard them back toward the entrance.

Xander sighed and looked over his shoulder at her. "What did you do."

She blinked wide eyes at him. "What makes you think...never mind." She shrugged. "He asked me out...and got grabby."

Xander snickered. "Did you break him?"

Dawn blushed. "No. But he'll have a nice shiner tomorrow." She grinned at them in victory as they made it outside. "So local boy, are there any other home improvement stores around here?"

He eyed them warily, squinting in the summer sun. "You really gave Duncan a black eye yo?"

Dawn shrugged again. "My big sister is like a master of self defense, so I've picked up a few things."

"Damn, and I missed it. Yeah, there's a couple a places. Better quality stuff too yo."

Xander nodded. "Cool. You mind riding with us? We're still new in town and Dawn isn't allowed to navigate anymore."

"That wasn't my fault. Buffy downloaded those directions."

"Which means you should have double checked them." He grinned at her before looking at the boy again. "You gotta real name we can call you?"

He shifted his feet and nodded. "Yeah...it's Todd. Todd Tolensky."

"Xander Harris, nice to meet you. This is Dawn Summers, she's practically my little sister."

Todd turned to glare at Dawn. "You related to anyone around here?"

Dawn blinked at him. "We're from California. We don't know anyone in New York."

"Then why the heck did you move to Bayville yo?"

Xander pointed his electronic key at the car and it beeped in greeting as he unlocked it. "We'll tell you on the way..." His stomach growled then and Dawn giggled. "Right after lunch."

xxx

Todd played navigator for them and directed them to the local burger joint and then the park so they could talk in relative peace. They had settled on one of the picnic tables beside an old grill under a large shade tree. The two Californians had quickly divided up the food between the three of them and he'd watched in awe as Xander inhaled his burgers almost as fast as Freddy.

Dawn and Xander had been nothing but nice to him and it made him uncomfortable. It was cool, in a way, but weird too. No one was ever this nice to him, not unless they wanted something. His mind flashed to Mystique and he frowned.

Dawn reached over to tap him gently on the forehead. "You're thinking too hard."

He sent her a mild glare. "What do you want from me yo? No one is ever nice to me. No one buys me lunch...well almost no one. It's just freaky."

Xander sighed around his mouthful of food and quickly swallowed. "Like I said back at the store. Bully's suck, I don't like them. I was one of their favorite punching bags when I was a kid."

Todd snorted and took a long look at Xander. The guy was built, not bulky like Wolverine, but you could see the muscles move under his fitted t-shirt. And when he wasn't acting like a goof the eye patch made him look like a pirate or a bouncer or something. "Yeah right yo."

Xander grinned at him then. "I earned this sexy body with long hours of construction work and running for my life on a daily basis." Todd continued to glare at him. "Look, back when I was in high school...god I sound like an old man." He grinned ruefully. "Anyway, back then I was shorter, skinnier and had a smart mouth. One that got me pummeled at least once a week, sometimes more."

Dawn nodded. "And then he got mad when my sister beat up the bullies for him."

"It violated the guy code!" He shrugged. "I was kid, and it was embarrassing to have a tiny blond valley girl beat up the quarter back after he slammed me up against the coke machine. I got over it."

Todd gave Xander a disbelieving look. "Say what?"

Dawn grinned. "My older sister, Buffy, is a lot stronger than she looks. Now, you wanna tell us what that guy has against you?"

Todd shrugged under their curious looks. "Ever since I moved to Bayville I've been his favorite punching bag yo. He's a senior this year and I can't wait till he goes to college, heard he got some kinda football scholarship." He took a bite of his burger. "So why are you guys in Bayville?"

"We needed a place for the school."

A chill went through Todd. "School? You two opening up a school for gifted kids or whatever?"

The two shared a look before Xander asked. "What made you ask that?"

"Bayville's not that big yo. And there's already a private school on the north side of town, you can't miss it."

"Oh, you mean that huge mansion up on the hill?" Dawn asked. "That's a school?" She turned to Xander. "Did you know there was a private school here?"

"Giles mentioned it, Xavier's school for gifted kids...or youngsters or something like that." He shrugged. "What we're working on is smaller, mostly cause our house isn't as big, and it's a school for gifted girls. It's pretty select."

"What's it called yo?"

Xander gave him a sad smile. "McNally's school for girls."

"McNally?"

"Yeah, my house so I got to name it. I also call it the McNally School of Awesome!"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Dork."

"Yeah, but I figure Jesse would have gotten a kick outta having a girl's school named after him."

"Who's Jesse yo?"

"Jesse was one of my best friends when I was kid. He was killed sophomore year in a gang related incident."

"Sorry yo. Did you guys live in LA or somethin'?"

Dawn shook her head. "Nope, we're from Sunnydale."

Todd's eyes bugged for a second. Maybe he didn't know much of what happened outside of Bayville, but everyone knew about Sunnydale. Town's didn't just collapse into huge ass craters every day. "No way! That's harsh yo."

Xander grimaced. "You don't know the half of it. So about that other store, the one that doesn't employ jocks. Would you mind hanging with us for a while longer and playing navigator again?"

"Sure thing dawg. I mean, since you bought me food an all." He fiddled with the empty wrappers for a moment.

Xander looked at him thoughtfully. "Hey Dawn, mind finding a trash can for all this?"

Dawn was about to object but thought better of it when she noticed Xander give a small shake of his head. "Sure." She gathered up the trash and headed towards the farthest trash can.

"The jock, he said you couldn't afford the paint you were looking at."

"Yeah so?"

Xander sighed. "I know neglect when I see it Todd. The only time I got a decent meal growing up was when I was at a friend's house. My parents spent as little money on me as they could get away with, just enough to keep social services away. By the time I was four I was an expert at dodging empty beer bottles. When my old man was in a mood I knew to keep quiet, to disappear. I don't know what your situation is, but judging by your clothes, those rips aren't a fashion statement."

"I ain't your charity case man."

"And I don't want you to be, everyone's got their pride, but sometimes survival is more important than pride. If you need money you can earn it. I know school starts soon but Dawn and I are the only ones at the house right now and we need help to get it fixed up before the girls start arriving. And if you need an estimate on how much paint you need for whatever project you've got going I'm your man."

Todd leaned back a bit, stunned at the offer, and the revelations. "You mean it yo. This isn't some sort of sick joke?"

Xander shook his head. "My jokes are funny and used for tense situations. I don't joke about helping people."

Todd worried his lower lip for a minute. "I guess. But the paint thing. I don't know what I need. Boss—er Landlady said to fix the place up. None of us know how to do any of that repair stuff yo."

"Landlady?"

"She took us in...kinda. None of us have parents. Well Pietro and Wanda do but their dad's a little crazy. Landlady isn't much better. We live in a Boarding House."

Xander's eye narrowed. "And where is your Landlady now?"

Todd shrugged. "Ain't gotta clue."

Xander sighed. "Help us out, at least for today. When we're done I'll drive you home and give you some tips after I look at the house. I can leave an estimate for your Landlady. Then you can decide if you want to come back and keep working."

"That's sounds okay."

"Good."

xxx

Todd looked at all the stuff Xander had bought. Paint, paintbrushes, paint rollers, concrete mix, more paint, several slim wooden boards and variety of stuff that he'd never heard of before. And what the heck was a caulking gun and what did shooting caulking have to do with home repairs?

"You can afford all this yo? It's a lot of stuff." He looked again at the bounty. "How's it gonna fit in your car?"

Xander looked at the purchases he'd made on their large cart. "It'll fit. We'll put the boards in first."

"Uh, Xander. What are the boards for? I know we need to replace a few doors but-" Dawn started.

"The boards are for the new sidewalk, I'll need them when I pour the concrete. Oh, I should have gotten shovels. Damn."

"There are some in the garage." Dawn chirped.

"Cool."

Much to Todd's amazement everything they'd gotten fit in the car. There was just enough room left in the back seat that he'd be able to sit comfortably. Xander was taking the cart inside and Todd let curiosity get the better of him. "So why's a guy like that in charge of a girl's school yo? Don't the parents get touchy about that kinda thing?"

Dawn grinned. "Xander's only into older women and men."

"He's a fruit?"

Dawn's smile disappeared. "The word is gay, but in this case no. Xander has dated women, and one man. He doesn't label himself, he likes to have options. You call him that again I'll do to you what I did to super jock."

"Easy girl. I didn't mean nothin' by it. Not like I called him a fa—somethin' worse." He looked sheepish. "Not used to talkn' polite."

Dawn gave him a hard stare before giving him a nod and a small smile graced her face again. "It's okay. I just don't like judgmental people."

"Yeah, she's gets testy whenever someone makes a face at the food she eats. Word of advice, never, ever, let Dawn cook pancakes for you." Xander shuddered. "Death by pancakes is a horrible way to go."

Dawn smacked his arm before getting into the car. Todd looked at Xander uneasily. "How much did you..."

"Most of it. Don't worry. I figure, small town like this, you haven't been exposed to all parts of society. No biggie. Now, lets get to the house and we'll see how well you do with a paintbrush."

"I wasn't tryn' to be rude yo...didn't know how else to say it. And...you're not the only one like that around here." Todd muttered, not meeting Xander's gaze.

Xander tilted his head and let what the teen had said sink in a little. "So you too?" Todd nodded and Xander ruffled his hair. "Don't be so glum about it. It's not a bad thing. However, since we're friends now Dawn and I get to interview, approve and possibly threaten all potential boyfriends. Now lets go."

Todd gaped for a moment before slipping into the backseat, thinking silently about the weirdness of having...friends.

xxx

As it turned out Todd was a natural with a paintbrush. His work was a little rough, but that was expected since the kid had never painted a wall before. Xander was pleased with the amount of work they'd gotten done, despite the impromptu duel Dawn had initiated with Todd. It had been funny as hell to see the boy's gobsmacked expression when Dawn had casually painted his hair with her brush. She'd grinned impishly at him afterwords and it had taken him a moment to realize she was playing. It was almost as if Todd didn't know how to play. Something that Dawn had made it her personal mission to rectify. They'd chased each other around the room then wielding their brushes like swords, and somehow managed to drag Xander into it.

He snorted. It was the most fun he'd had in a while.

Even with their mini war the three of them had gotten half of the bedrooms on the second floor painted. Xander gazed around the last room they'd worked on. All four walls were painted a soft green. It looked good.

"Hey Xander."

Xander looked over his shoulder at Todd. "Yeah?"

"It's gettn' late yo. I need to get back to the boarding house."

"Your Landlady going to be waiting for you?"

Todd shrugged. "She might show up. Never know with her."

Xander looked thoughtful. "You still want an estimate for repair work?"

"That'd be cool yo...and a ride maybe?"

Xander nodded. "I can do that. Hey Dawn!"

Dawn popped her head into the doorway, her face still covered in paint smears. "What?"

"I'm gonna take Todd home."

She nodded. "I'll be okay for a while. I'm just gonna get cleaned up."

"Cool. Come on Todd, let's roll."

XXX


	3. Chapter 2

Generation X: Xander Style

Chapter Two

word count: 3248

Warnings: Established Kurt/Todd, Lance being an ass.

A/N: See bottom of fic.

XXX

Xander stared at the boarding house in disbelief. "You actually live in this dump?"

"It ain't so bad yo."

He pointed at the shamble posing as a building. "I know I lack depth perception...but there is no way it's not as bad as it looks."

Todd sighed. "It's a roof over my head yo. I ain't gonna turn it down."

Xander nodded. "I get that. I mean, after I graduated high school I was stuck in my parents basement for a little over a year...it was a dump and my old man charged me rent, but I had nowhere else to go. But this...it looks like a death trap."

"You should see it during the day yo."

"I don't think I want to."

Todd rolled his eyes. "You comin' inside or what?"

With a shudder, Xander followed Todd inside the door, and stopped as he looked around the trashed interior. There were holes in the walls, the wood floor was scuffed beyond recognition, and the only furniture in the living room was a warped threadbare couch, a rickety coffee table, and a broken box that used to be a television.

He followed Todd into the kitchen and grimaced at the faint odor of god knows what that slightly reminded him of ripe roadkill. The linoleum was cracked and peeling, and completely gone in some places. The wallpaper was ripped and tattered and the windows were boarded up.

Xander sighed. "So...grand tour?"

"Sure, follow me."

By the time Xander had seen the entire house he was near furious. Scratch that, he was ready to kill something, preferably with lots of violence involved. He thought evil thoughts at the absent Landlady. "You and the other kids live like this? And no one has done anything about it?"

"No one cares yo. Landlady gives us money for food, pays the bills and we do what she says." Todd wouldn't meet his eyes again.

"What are you kids into?"

"I can't tell you."

They heard the front door open with a slam and headed back downstairs.

"Hey Toad! Who's here?"

Xander followed Todd into the room and looked at the new arrival. This boy was taller than Todd, his hair a darker brown. He shuddered at the almost mullet hairstyle. His jeans were dirty and ripped and he wore a black t-shirt under an ugly brown vest.

"Hey Lance. How'd it go?"

"How do you think it went?" He snarled at the younger boy. "No one's gonna hire a freak." He narrowed his eyes at Xander. "Who's the pirate?"

"Yeah, cause that's so original, and also, standing right here." Xander smiled. "I'm Xander Harris. Todd wanted an estimate for repairs for your...lovely home."

"Oh yeah? And what do you think?"

Xander snorted. "Honestly, I think you should blow the place up and start from scratch."

Lance gazed around the living room. "Yeah, and?"

Xander shook his head. "There is so much damage here beyond the wear and tear of everyday living. Fixing up this place would call for some really deep pockets."

Lance glared at him. "I'll be sure to let our boss know." He motioned to the front door. "Get out."

Xander met the boy's glare with a raised eyebrow. "You gonna be okay Todd?"

Todd nodded. "Yeah, Lance is cool."

"You have my number if you need anything."

Again Todd nodded. "Thanks for today man."

Xander grinned. "Anytime kid. See ya later." He gave a wave as he walked past Lance. "The offer goes to you too Lance. You need help, Todd can get in touch with me."

"What are you? Social services?"

"Nah, I'm just Xander." He grinned again and went out the door.

Lance waited until the strange man had gotten in his car and driven away, his tail lights fading into the darkness. "What the hell Toad?"

Todd glared. "Boss Lady wanted the place fixed up and we don't know shit about that stuff. Xander and his sister helped me get away from Duncan and I helped them get around Bayville." He paused and his glare changed to a look of wonder. "He's gonna pay me for helpn' fix up their house yo."

Lance looked floored. "He's gonna pay you? He doesn't know you're not human does he?"

"No."

"It won't last then. Better milk the sucker for all he's worth." With no more to say Lance headed towards the kitchen.

Todd felt sick. Xander and Dawn were nice, cool even, for humans anyway. Lance was probably right though. Once they found out he wasn't human they'd never want to hang out again. Sometimes being different sucked.

xxx

Todd, Dawn decided, was well on his way to being her best friend. In other words, he was a keeper. He was sarcastic, smart mouthed, and hated bullies...if Dawn was Buffy, then Todd would be her Xander. Now they just needed a Willow and they could be the Scrappies. Hopefully they'd be able to avoid all the hellfire and teenage angst that their earlier incarnation, the Scoobies, had gone through. Then again.

She licked at her ice cream and flicked her gaze over at Todd. Xander had left them outside while he was picking up a few more supplies from the home improvement store. They had decided to take a break from renovating the house and Xander had driven them into town for lunch. And now they were waiting for him to rejoin them in the summer heat.

"School starts on Monday."

"I'm filled with joy yo."

Dawn agreed, just because Bayville didn't have a hellmouth didn't mean high school was without danger. "So...Principal Kelly."

"What about him?"

"Is he evil?"

"What kinda question is that yo?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "It was a perfectly good question. See, when my sister and Xander were in high school the principal did everything he could to get Buffy expelled. Even tried to pin a murder on her." She took another lick of her ice cream.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, she was an exchange student from Jamaica and she and Buffy were pretty close. Buffy found her body in the school library."

"What happened?"

"Sunnydale wasn't safe at night, after dark the gangs were in charge. The police were incompetent, corrupt, and the Mayor was in on it. Kendra was killed because she got in the way. Xander ended up with a broken wrist, and Willow was in a coma for a few hours."

"Damn."

"Yeah...so is Kelly evil?"

Todd was silent for a moment and took a bite of his fudge-sickle. "He's played us before, tried to get us in trouble. If you hang out with me at school everyone will hassle you yo."

"Yeah, and?"

"Be better off not hangin'."

Dawn elbowed him. "You're the first friend I've made here, and if you keep this up your gonna be my best guy friend period."

"Whatever."

She elbowed him again. "You are my friend, and I don't abandon my friends. So deal."

He smirked. "You gonna beat up the jocks that give me grief?"

Dawn grinned back. "We could submarine them if they get out of hand. Maybe start a prank war."

Todd coughed and choked on his ice cream before laughing. "This best friend thing. I think it's gonna work."

She grinned. "So, Xander said we get to interview potential boyfriends. You get a guy, we get to approve him first, and threaten him properly."

Todd's normally pale skin turned red. "Why would you threaten him?

"To keep him from hurting you. It's best friend protocol." Her eyes narrowed. "Wait...you said him. You already have a boyfriend Todd?"

"Maybe."

"Cool. I can't wait to meet him."

Todd rolled his eyes.

xxx

Dawn grimaced at her schedule. The only foreign languages Bayville High offered were Spanish and French, she was already fluent in both. Why couldn't they offer up a challenge, like Japanese?

So far her day had been...normal, well mostly. She'd gone to her classes, met a few nice people, and some not so nice people. Principal Kelly still gave her the wiggins. And there was some sort of hostile vibe thing going on with the entire student body. It was unsettling and she wished someone would tell her what was going on.

There were two groups of kids that seemed to be the target of everyone's aggression. One group was an unknown, the kids from the Institute from the north side of town. The other was Todd and his housemates. Todd's housemates were a little rough around the edges, two of them seemed to be anyway, but it wasn't a good reason for the outright hostility that they were receiving. Of course it didn't help when the oldest boy seemed to bask in the attention.

She rolled her eyes at the craziness of it all and made her way across the quad. "Todd!"

Todd looked up from the table where he sat with his housemates. "Yo!"

She approached the table and motioned to the empty spot beside him. "This seat taken?"

Suddenly a boy with white hair was sitting in the spot that she knew had just been empty a second before. "Yeah, it is."

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Nice to meet you too Eye-candy, but I don't think I was talking to you." She turned to Todd again. "Come on, I brought my lunch, packed enough for two. Come sit with me?"

Todd eyed her warily. "You sure yo?"

"I wouldn't have offered otherwise."

"Hey Mutant Lover!"

Dawn looked over her shoulder at one of the football players across the quad. "The heck?"

Another jock whistled. "That how you swing girlfriend?" They high-fived and made a few more derogatory catcalls.

Dawn looked back at the boys and frowned when she noticed Todd blushing, a furious look on his face. "Mutant?" She looked at the other boys. "That's what all the stupid and crazy bordering on psychotic vibes are about? You guys are mutants?"

Todd nodded. "Walk away yo. While you can."

Dawn rolled her eyes and lightly flicked his ear He glared at her. "You're a mutant, big deal. We're still friends and I still want to share my lunch with you." She tapped his forehead gently. "I told you I don't abandon my friends. I learned from the best about loyalty." She squeezed in between Todd and the white haired boy, practically pushing him off the bench. "So, how's your day been, aside from the mass of douche bags that seem to inhabit this place."

Todd snorted. "You are the weirdest girl yo. What'd you bring for lunch?"

"Tuna salad on cheddar bread, smothered in maple syrup." She ignored the gagging noises of the others.

"That's gross yo."

"You liked the pastrami and peanut butter sandwiches I made on Saturday."

"So what?"

She just shook her head.

"Toad, who is this chick?" Eye-candy looked down his nose at her.

"His name is Todd, use it."

Todd motioned at Dawn. "Guys this is Dawn Summers, she's from California. Dawn that's Pietro, Lance and Freddy. Wanda stayed home today, she's Pietro's sister." Freddy only glanced at her, too busy with his lunch to pay much attention. Pietro continued to look mildly interested in her.

Lance sneered at Dawn. "Summers huh? You related to Sunglasses at Night?"

Dawn blinked and gave Lance a blank look before asking Todd; "I'm sure that would've made sense in some bizzaro world. Care to translate?"

"He wants to know if you have family around here yo."

"Why does everybody ask that. I'm from California, before I moved to Bayville I'd never even been to New York. The only people I know here are Todd, and the people I've met today."

Lance frowned at Todd and the younger boy shrugged. "She's Xander's sister."

Dawn shook her head. "Sister by choice, not blood. I'm staying with him while my sister is in Europe on business."

Pietro looked curious all of a sudden. "What kind of business."

"Nosy much?" She shrugged it off though and dug out her lunch, handing a sandwich to Todd. "It's mostly over my head. I know she had to go to Spain to see our dad and work out some kinks in who gets custody of me. He never came to Mom's funeral, didn't even show up to sign any paperwork. Too busy boning his secretary. And there's still a few insurance payouts going on so she's talking to people who left the country after our world became a giant sinkhole."

"Say what?" Freddy asked around the food in his mouth.

"Oh, I'm from Sunnydale."

Wide eyes met her statement. Lance coughed. "That small town in California that's just a crater now?"

"Yep. We were the last group out."

Pietro peeked at her food and grimaced. "Last group out?"

She nodded and took a bite of her sandwich, savoring the flavors. "There were warning tremors, so we knew things were gonna get bad, ya know. And a military group confirmed that the system of caverns under the town were becoming unstable. Not everyone wanted to leave though." She frowned. "We volunteered to help with the evacuation. We were trying to get people out of the high school where they'd been squatting." She shuttered. "Then the town started to collapse. Not all of my friends made it out. We ran to the nearest vehicle, one of the school buses, and got the hell out of there. I can remember looking behind us, watching the town fall, catching up to us. We barely made it. Spike, and Anya, and some of the teenaged girls we'd taken in...they didn't make it."

Todd shifted and nudged her arm. "Who were they?"

She gave him a sad smile. "Spike was one of my sister's old boyfriends and he was my sitter some when I was younger. But when Sunnydale fell...he and Xander were dating."

"Jesus. And Anya?"

"At one time Anya and Xander were engaged...it didn't work out though, obviously since he dated Spike after."

"So your brother is gay?" Lance asked.

Dawn glared at him. "I just told you how some close friends of mine died and you pick up on the fact that my brother had a boyfriend? What part of he died a horrible death did you not pick up on?" She shook her head. "I get that you have a chip on your shoulder, but seriously, get over yourself. I don't care if you're human or mutant or something else." Dawn sighed. "You coming over today Todd?"

"Sure. Xander coming to pick you up?"

"Yeah."

"I'll catch a ride with you then."

"Cool, let's go find a better spot." She grabbed her food and dragged Todd away from the bewildered boys.

"What was that about?" Freddy asked.

"Lance was being a douche bag. Really man, that was low, even if she is a human." Pietro shook his head and zipped away.

On the other side of the quad several confused faces watched the new girl drag Todd Tolensky away from the Brotherhood.

"What the heck was that about?" Rogue asked no one in particular.

"No idea. We might want to keep an eye on her though." Scott said, a frown appearing behind his shades.

"Like really, I mean who would actually want to hang out with The Toad, ya know?" Kitty shuddered. "Gross."

Kurt tried not to sigh. "I'll see you guys later, I need to stop by the library before my next class."

"Later Kurt."

Kurt shook his head and headed in the same direction Todd and the new girl had gone, luckily the library was in the same area.

He found them sitting on a bench in a slightly more secluded area of the quad. "Everything alright liebling?"

The girl looked up from her lunch, her gaze openly curious. When she started speaking German he took a step back. "Was war das nochmal?"

Todd looked from one to the other. "Speak English yo."

Kurt took another step back but stilled when Todd grabbed his wrist. "Todd?"

"It's cool Fuzzy. She knows we're mutants. She don't care." Todd nodded in the direction of the rest of the quad. "She's just pissed at Lance. Dawg was bein' an ass." Todd softened his grip on Kurt's wrist. "Stay yo. Dawn's cool."

Kurt sighed and allowed Todd to pull him to the bench on his other side. He held out is hand. "Kurt Wagner."

She nodded and grasped his hand, not even pausing at the feel of his fur. "Dawn Summers, and no I'm not related to anyone here. I'm from California." She smiled. "Sorry, people have been asking me that all day." They released hands.

Kurt leaned against Todd. "So how did you two meet?"

"Dawn and her bro saved me from Duncan at that store he works at yo." He smirked. "She gave him a shiner."

Kurt gaped. "You hit him?"

Dawn pouted. "He got grabby, his hands were going places they didn't need to be going." Her pout faded and she looked at the two of them closely. "So...why are you guys hiding your relationship? Well after the whole thing with the Mullet King I understand why Todd's hiding it. What about you?"

Kurt hesitated, but Todd nudged him gently and smiled. "We're both mutants, but from different groups. Todd is part of the Brotherhood, who are led by Magneto. I'm one of Professor Xavier's students, he and Magneto were once friends, but they have different opinions about how mutants should live next to humans."

"Okay..."

"It's like this yo. Mags thinks that mutants are superior and should be in charge. Xavier thinks we can live in peace, but with the way things are at school...I don't think it's gonna work."

Kurt sighed. "We need to show them that while yes, we have powers and we're different, we just want what everyone else does."

Dawn nodded. "A kinda normal life." Both boys stared at her, and she shrugged. "What?" The bell rang then. "So you want to come over to my house with Todd?"

Kurt shook his head. "Nein. I wouldn't want to impose."

"Xander's cool yo. He wouldn't mind. He'll probably put you to work."

"Work?"

Dawn nodded. "Todd's been helping us fix our house up, so yeah, after our homework is done we'd be working." She looked thoughtful. "Don't walk on the front walk when we get there. The concrete isn't done drying."

"You're sure about this?"

Dawn nodded. "Wouldn't offer if I didn't mean it. Now come on, class awaits." She caught Todd's grimace. "And no skipping."

"Whatever yo."

XXX

A/N: Okay, so I don't know any German, I'm just using an online dictionary and flying by the seat of my pants.

Liebling – sweetheart

Was war das nochmal? - What was that again?

Nein - No


End file.
